Americans United - Jack Abramoffhttps://www.au.org/tags/jack-abramoff
enReligious Right Rabbi: Christian Coalition Favorite Daniel Lapin Resurfaceshttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/religious-right-rabbi-christian-coalition-favorite-daniel-lapin-resurfaces
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Rabbi Daniel Lapin has just the exact combination of arrogance and thick-headedness that makes listening to him an excruciating experience.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Back in the 1990s when I was regularly covering the antics of TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition, one part of the job was particularly distasteful: listening to speeches by Rabbi Daniel Lapin.</p><p>Lapin headed a synagogue in Washington state and ran a small right-wing group called Toward Tradition, but he was best known for being the Religious Right’s token Jewish supporter. Unlike “Messianic Jews” who are really just converts to evangelical Christianity who rip off Jewish rituals, Lapin, a South African expatriate, is actually Jewish. He was a regular speaker at the Christian Coalition’s “Road to Victory” conferences, where his job was to convince attendees that real Jews love them some Religious Right.</p><p>Unfortunately, Lapin has just the exact combination of arrogance and thick-headedness that makes listening to him an excruciating experience. In my 2000 book, <em><a href="http://www.prometheusbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;products_id=920">Close Encounters with the Religious Right</a></em>, I explained it like this:</p><p>“Listening to Lapin rave, even for a mere twenty minutes, is almost too much to bear. Worse than that, it is the ultimate waste of perfectly good time that could be spent doing virtually anything else. When Lapin finally shuts up, one is acutely aware that the time just spent listening to him is <em>gone</em>, irrevocably gone. It will never be back, and it has been squandered. The thought is utterly depressing – every time.”</p><p>The Christian Coalition went into decline, and Lapin just sort of faded away. (There was some unpleasantness concerning Lapin’s <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/abramoff-used-area-foundation-as-conduit-for-money/">relationship with disgraced lobbyist</a> Jack Abramoff.) But it looks like Lapin is trying to make a comeback. Bill Berkowitz at Buzzflash <a href="http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/religious-right-s-pet-rabbi-accuses-liberals-of-being-sexually-attracted-to-muslim-extremists">reports</a> that Lapin recently appeared on the Family Research Council’s radio program where he offered up some unusual theories about liberals and their supposed love affair with Islamic terrorists. (Oh, you didn’t know that liberals love Islamic terrorists? Well, read on.)</p><p>“There are countless studies showing that feminine-type behavior produces an excess of estrogen in men and vice versa,” Lapin said. “Essentially, the left has fallen in love with the masculinity of Islam.”</p><p>Pretty dumb, right? Wait, it gets better.</p><p>Lapin continued: “Today, after a 30- or 40-year epidemic of leftism that has swept its sordid stain across America, we’ve become much more feminized, and we are attracted to the masculine strength and brutality of Islam. This is the girl in the high school being attracted to the bad, tough guy and that’s really what’s happening. There is no other way that I know of to explain this utterly irrational – and as soon as I said to myself that it’s irrational, I said, where else do you see irrational behavior? When people are sexually attracted you see irrational behavior. On a spiritual level, the feminized American left, show business, politicians, particularly academia, all the people who love Islam, when Christianity and Judaism are exactly the reverse.”</p><p>I’m glad we got that cleared up.</p><p>In just a few sentences, Lapin has managed to insult progressives, women and Muslims with a farrago of pseudoscience and pop psychology gobbledygook seasoned with the most pungent spices of the kook right. And the sad thing is, he undoubtedly believes it’s deep thinking.</p><p>I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Some people, like Frank Schaeffer and John W. Whitehead, do manage to <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/march-2008-church-state/featured/religious-right-about-face">break away</a> from the extremism of the Religious Right. But that requires a spark of intelligence and integrity, qualities sorely lacking in most Religious Right toadies. For others – especially for obscure hangers-on like Lapin – cuddling up with the likes of Tony Perkins is the only way to get a little attention and a score a few extra bucks.</p><p>Yes, being smug and uninformed can actually pay dividends in the short run. But when you’re about to check out of this mortal coil and it comes time for the summing up, it can only be described as a sad and petty way to have lived.</p><p>See, a life marked by smugness, arrogance and willful ignorance is no life at all, really. Yet in the world of the Religious Right, those are highly prized qualities. Unfortunately, this probably means we’ll be hearing more from Lapin in the months to come.</p><p> </p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/daniel-lapin">Daniel Lapin</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/toward-tradition">Toward Tradition</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council">Family Research Council</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jack-abramoff">Jack Abramoff</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pat-robertson">Pat Robertson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-perkins">Tony Perkins</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/islam">Islam</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-whitehead">John Whitehead</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/frank-schaeffer">Frank Schaeffer</a></span></div></div>Wed, 13 May 2015 14:02:32 +0000Rob Boston11120 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/religious-right-rabbi-christian-coalition-favorite-daniel-lapin-resurfaces#commentsMurky Math: Why Ralph Reed’s Latest Political Claims Don’t Add Up https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/murky-math-why-ralph-reed-s-latest-political-claims-don-t-add-up
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ralph Reed has a history of exaggerating what his groups will do or even what they are capable of doing. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>My wife and I are fans of the Sunday <em>New York Times</em>, and yesterday as we were enjoying the paper over a leisurely breakfast, she nudged me to make note of a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/us/politics/ralph-reed-hopes-to-nudge-mitt-romney-to-a-victory.html?pagewanted=all">story on the front page</a>. I looked and was a little taken aback. Glaring up at me was a photo of an old Americans United nemesis – Ralph Reed. The headline read, “An Evangelical Is Back From Exile, Lifting Romney.”</p><p>Some of you may recall Reed from his days as a political operative for TV preacher Pat Robertson. In the early 1990s he was something of a wunderkind, and journalists never failed to mention how someone with such a boyish appearance could run a hardball political operation.</p><p>Reed led Robertson’s Christian Coalition for several years and then departed to start a political consulting firm near Atlanta. He worked on both George W. Bush campaigns, assisted other candidates and did some lobbying. All the while, Reed had his eye on public office himself.</p><p>It didn’t quite work out. Reed ran for lieutenant governor of Georgia in 2006, probably figuring it would be his first rung on the political ladder. The voters had other ideas. Reed’s campaign came crashing down in spectacular flames after his ties to disgraced casino lobbyist Jack Abramoff became an issue. Reed was supposed to win the Republican primary in a cakewalk. He ended up losing by 12 points.</p><p>Reed tried his hand at writing a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Horse-A-Political-Thriller/dp/1416576495">political thriller</a>. It flopped. So Reed returned to his roots and launched a new Religious Right group called the Faith &amp; Freedom Coalition. Reed’s political resurrection was the focus of the <em>Times</em> story<strong>. </strong></p><p>When he ran the Christian Coalition, Reed had a history of exaggerating his influence. (The less charitable might say he told big, fat lies.) It seems he’s up to his old tricks. <em>The Times</em> reported that Reed has compiled the “largest-ever database of reliably conservative religious voters.” He told the newspaper that his organization will call 17.1 million registered voters in 15 key states and that two million people will receive personal visits.</p><p>Of special interest to me was Reed’s claim that the Faith &amp; Freedom Coalition will distribute 25 million voter guides in 117,000 churches. Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.</p><p><em>The Times</em> dutifully reported all of this. Yet a little simple arithmetic shows that it’s almost certainly not true. According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, there are estimated to be <a href="http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.html">350,000 religious congregations</a> in the United States, many of which would have nothing to do with Reed’s group.</p><p>A large number of Christian churches are affiliated with mainline Protestant denominations. Reed’s group has no headway with these churches. They disagree with his agenda. Catholic and Orthodox churches account for about 24,000 congregations. The Catholic bishops <a href="http://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/bishops-say-no-to-voter-guides-catholic-officials-warn-against-distributing">decided years ago </a>to keep voter guides issued by advocacy groups out of the pews.</p><p>Obviously most Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. congregations are not going to help Reed out. That leaves him with evangelical congregations. To be sure, there are many of them in America, but even here Reed would encounter difficulties.</p><p>All signs indicate that evangelicals are getting weary of the constant political drumbeat. Polls show that most Americans – especially younger churchgoers – attend services for spiritual reasons, <a href="http://www.pcusa.org/news/2012/6/6/us-churches-tread-lightly-politics-2012-election/">not to hear political rants</a>.</p><p>But let’s say by some miracle there were 117,000 churches friendly to Reed’s group. The amount of work required to coordinate with them would be staggering – not to mention extremely expensive. One would have to spend years laying the groundwork, yet Reed’s Coalition, until recently, had an annual budget of less than $1 million.</p><p>Publicly available documents show that the budget for Reed’s group jumped from $743,015 in 2009 to about $5.5 million in 2010. Reed claims he’ll spend $10-12 million this year. Obviously some well-heeled right-wing fat cats are pouring money into the effort. Reed will clearly connect with some voters and churches, but he’s not going to reach 33 percent of entire American religious community.</p><p>I’m also suspicious of the claim that the Coalition will contact 17 million voters. Reed may have access to some high-tech toys, but that number is more than 10 percent of all who voted in 2008. Again, meaningful contact with that many people – as opposed to just sending them a spam e-mail – would cost a lot of money.</p><p>And, as strange as this may sound, $10 million isn’t much in a modern political campaign. Analysts say the total cost of this campaign for both parties <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-07-19/presidential-campaign-fundraising/56347840/1">could top $3 billion</a>. (Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate, donated $10 million to a Romney Super-PAC in one day.)</p><p>None of this means that the Religious Right isn’t a powerful political force or that it doesn’t have influence. Several groups are urging pastors to jump into partisan politics by endorsing or opposing candidates from the pulpit. That’s one reason why Americans United <a href="http://www.au.org/media/press-releases/americans-united-advises-houses-of-worship-to-refrain-from-partisan">recently mailed letters</a> educating about what’s legal and what’s not concerning political activity to 60,000 houses of worship.</p><p>It is important to keep things in perspective, however. Reed has a history of exaggerating what his groups will do or even what they are capable of doing. Rather than just write down and print his claims, journalists should engage in some basic fact checking. If they did, they would quickly see that Reed’s numbers simply don’t add up.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-groups%E2%80%99-involvement-in-candidate-elections">Religious Groups’ Involvement in Candidate Elections</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ralph-reed">ralph reed</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/faith-and-freedom-coalition">Faith and Freedom Coalition</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/christian-coalition">Christian Coalition</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pat-robertson">Pat Robertson</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jack-abramoff">Jack Abramoff</a></span></div></div>Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:37:38 +0000Rob Boston7568 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/murky-math-why-ralph-reed-s-latest-political-claims-don-t-add-up#commentsBad Faith: Despite His Sins, Ralph Reed Remains Cozy With The Religious Righthttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/bad-faith-despite-his-sins-ralph-reed-remains-cozy-with-the-religious-right
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Religious Right leaders can be very forgiving – when it’s in their interest. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Loose morals abound in an election year.</p><p>Ralph Reed’s Faith &amp; Freedom Coalition is holding its <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57452831-503544/for-romney-and-social-conservatives-an-uneasy-embrace/">annual conference</a> in Washington, D.C., today and tomorrow. That means Religious Right devotees have descended on the city to discuss “training and equipping” themselves to “advance conservative legislation” and prep for the 2012 election. </p><p>You may remember Reed. He ran TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition throughout much of the 1990s, achieving a level of success that the group has been unable to duplicate since Reed’s departure in 1997.</p><p>Reed seemed poised for even greater things when he parted ways with Pat (if it’s possible for a Religious Right activist to top TV evangelism) – until his <a href="http://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/ralph-reed-rebound-religious-right-boy-wonder-seeks-influence-in-2012-%E2%80%93-and">duplicity and greed</a> came to light. In 2006, media outlets highlighted Reed’s ties to disgraced casino lobbyist Jack Abramoff.</p><p>Reed, while working for Abramoff, seemed to be an anti-gambling crusader. In reality, he was getting <a href="http://www.au.org/church-state/march-2006-church-state/featured/wheel-of-misfortune">generously paid</a> to help a Native American tribe that wanted to protect its casino operation and curb a competing gambling hall.</p><p>A series of emails between Reed and Abramoff showed Reed to be eager, as he put it in 1998, to “start humping in corporate accounts.”</p><p>Abramoff did time behind bars. Reed was never charged with illegal activities, but his role in the affair <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/15/AR2006011500915.html">derailed his 2006 run</a> for Georgia lieutenant governor.</p><p>It seems Reed has nonetheless recovered from that scandal and has been successful in building bridges to Tea Party conservatives and forging a voting bloc among the Religious Right through his latest venture.</p><p>That success is reflected in the <a href="http://ffcoalition.com/sites/default/files/Confirmed-Speakers-6-13.pdf">list of speakers</a> scheduled for Reed’s conference, including major politicos like presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney (who will deliver a message via video), Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and rumored Republican vice presidential candidates Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Rob Portman (Ohio).</p><p>Also scheduled to speak are some Religious Right celebrities, including Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics &amp; Religious Liberty Commission, TV preacher James Robison, Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice, Regent University President Carlos Campo and the Rev. Jonathan Falwell, pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church (and son of the late TV preacher Jerry Falwell).</p><p>That the likes of Perkins, Land, Falwell and Co. would have anything to do with Reed is shocking, given that the Religious Right claims to oppose gambling, not to mention that Reed totally scammed the entire movement.</p><p>But Religious Right leaders can be <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/us/politics/01reed.html?pagewanted=all">very forgiving</a> – when it’s in their interest. Tom Minnery, an official at Focus on the Family, told <em>The New York Times </em>last year, “I’m sure that Ralph learned a valuable lesson from that period in his life. But he’s a very talented man, and we welcome all the players.”</p><p>Land, Perkins and the like claim to stand for morality and values, but now that they’ve lined up with Reed, it’s clear that they’re willing to bend their morals if it means votes for politicians they back or bills they support.</p><p>Who knows what else some in the Religious Right are willing to overlook under the right circumstances, and when people yield on things that are supposed to be unbending, it’s difficult to know what they really stand for.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ralph-reed">ralph reed</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/faith-and-freedom-coalition">Faith and Freedom Coalition</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/gov-mitt-romney">Gov. Mitt Romney</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jack-abramoff">Jack Abramoff</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sen-marco-rubio">Sen. Marco Rubio</a></span></div></div>Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:33:53 +0000Simon Brown7235 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/bad-faith-despite-his-sins-ralph-reed-remains-cozy-with-the-religious-right#commentsRotten Ralph: Religious Right Operative Reed Resumes Effort To Politicize Churcheshttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/rotten-ralph-religious-right-operative-reed-resumes-effort-to-politicize
<a href="/about/people/joseph-l-conn">Joseph L. Conn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">I’m glad to hear that churches are wary of Reed’s duplicitous endeavors.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Like a sleazy political version of movie monster Freddy Krueger, Ralph Reed just won’t go away.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/media/77591/fox_and_friends_team_up_with_right_wing_crook_ralph_reed_to_bash_michelle_obama/">notorious</a> Religious Right operative is back in Washington, D.C., today for a <a href="https://secure.ffcoalition.com/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&amp;id=1">conference </a>and strategy briefing at the Mayflower Hotel. Call it “Nightmare on Connecticut Avenue.” The event is sponsored by Reed’s latest vehicle, the Faith and Freedom Coalition.</p>
<p>It’s déjà vu all over again for those of us who have monitored the Religious Right over the years.</p>
<p>With his old outfit the Christian Coalition in political eclipse, Reed has created another 501(c)4 tax –exempt organization to try to mold evangelical churches and church-goers into a disciplined voting bloc that supports Republican candidates.</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2010/September/Grassroots-Coalition-Hosts-National-Conference-in-DC/">interview with</a> TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network, Reed said he hopes to turn out evangelicals in enough numbers to constitute 30 percent of the total vote.</p>
<p>"If you can do that, what looks like a wave is going to turn into a tsunami," he said, referring to a likely GOP victory in the November polling.</p>
<p>My friends at Reed’s conference today tell me that attendance is rather low – maybe 300 conferees or so (compared to the massive crowds who used to attend Christian Coalition “Road to Victory” events). But I’m sure that won’t deter the Faith and Freedom Coalition.</p>
<p>Reed will suck in millions of dollars from partisan fat-cats who know that 501(c)4 groups don’t have to reveal their donors and can be heavily involved in politics without giving up their exemption.</p>
<p>But that also means that churches should be <a href="http://projectfairplay.org/">extremely wary</a> about working with Reed. Houses of worship (and many other nonprofits) fall into a different tax category. They are 501(c)3, and that means they are barred by federal tax law from any involvement in political campaigns. (Donations to churches and other c-3 groups are tax deductible; donations to c-4 groups are not.)</p>
<p>Churches can lose their exemptions if they work with the Faith and Freedom Coalition on behalf of candidates. When Reed shows up with a truckload of slanted “voter guides”— Reed’s favorite political weapon of choice -- pastors would be wise to tell him to dump them somewhere else.</p>
<p>Apparently, Reed is afraid that might happen. He admitted to Robertson’s CBN that his group has "some challenges.”</p>
<p>“We have churches who believe that they're not supposed to be political,” Reed fretted.</p>
<p>As usual, the minor-league Machiavelli has a solution. He “only” wants pastors to make sure every church-goer is registered to vote, is “educated and informed and equipped on where candidates stand on the issues” and goes to the polls.</p>
<p>Nothin' dirty goin' on!</p>
<p>That’s total baloney, of course. What Reed means is that he wants church-going voters to be “educated” by biased voter guides from his group -- and others like it -- that make the Republican candidate look like a saint and the Democratic candidate look like a sinner.</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear that churches are wary of Reed’s duplicitous endeavors. Partisan politics – whether Republican or Democratic – does not belong in our houses of worship.</p>
<p>I wish other religious and political leaders were wary of Reed’s activities.</p>
<p>Reed’s deplorable record is well known. He started his Christian Coalition career by taking a large Republican Senatorial Committee donation to produce allegedly “non-partisan”-- but, in fact, clearly stacked -- voter guides on behalf of the 1990 re-election effort of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). It was the genesis of a devious political tactic that eventually led the IRS to deny the Christian Coalition tax-exempt status.</p>
<p>As the Christian Coalition moved toward irrelevance, Reed slithered into a political lobbying gig.</p>
<p>In his <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/15/AR2006011500915.html">work with infamous</a> (and now convicted) lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Reed led clueless evangelical Christians into morality-based campaigns against new Indian casinos even though he knew the campaigns were paid for by existing Indian casinos who didn’t want competition. Church-goers – and even Religious Right leaders like James Dobson – had no idea they were being played for suckers. And Reed was richly paid for his work.</p>
<p>As an Abramoff associate helpfully <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/11/03/abramoff">explained</a> in an e-mail, “The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees. Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them.”</p>
<p>The heartless Reed even lobbied against legal protections for Chinese immigrants in the U.S.-owned Mariana Islands where workers were being forced to have abortions and dragooned into sex slavery. Reed sent out a mailer that said the new laws would prevent Chinese workers from coming to the Marianas where they are being “exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ.”</p>
<p>And yet this sordid record has not caused leading conservative and “Christian” leaders to shun him.</p>
<p>On the speaker list at the conference today and tomorrow are Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, Rep. Randy Forbes, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, Rep. Tom Price, Deal Hudson, Ed Goeas, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Gary Bauer, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, Grover Norquist, Jim Bopp, Jim Garlow, John Fund, Karl Rove, Kellyanne Conway, Ken Blackwell, Southern Baptist lobbyist Richard Land, Jim Talent, Rick Santorum, Tony Perkins and Tucker Carlson, among others.</p>
<p>Seriously, folks. Have you no shame?</p>
<p>By the way, one person who apparently is not going to show up is Jack Abramoff. He’s out of the slammer now and <a href="http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/news/jt/local_news/abramoff_to_work_at_tov_pizza/19332">working at a pizza joint</a> in Baltimore. Maybe Ralph will hire him to cater the next Faith and Freedom Conference!</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/churches-and-politics">Churches and Politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/faith-amp-freedom-coalition">Faith &amp;amp; Freedom Coalition</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jack-abramoff">Jack Abramoff</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/newt-gingrich">Newt Gingrich</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ralph-reed">ralph reed</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religion-and-politics">Religion and politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/richard-land">richard land</a></span></div></div>Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:12:22 +0000Joseph L. Conn1620 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/rotten-ralph-religious-right-operative-reed-resumes-effort-to-politicize#commentsThankful For Theocracy?: TVC's Sheldon Tries To Make Thanksgiving A Vehicle For Bigotry https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/thankful-for-theocracy-tvcs-sheldon-tries-to-make-thanksgiving-a-vehicle
<a href="/about/people/joseph-l-conn">Joseph L. Conn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The freedom to believe as we wish, or not to believe at all, is something to be truly thankful for, this week and every week.
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>What is it with Religious Right zealots and holidays?</p>
<p>In recent weeks, Focus on the Family, the American Family Association and other Religious Right zealots have ginned up their <a href="http://blog.au.org/2008/10/21/holiday-humbug-merry-christmas-donald-wildmon-and-happy-halloween-too/">annual assault on "Happy Holidays."</a> In a shameless bid to raise money and add a dollop of bitterness to the Christmas season, these folks are DEMANDING that merchants use the term "Merry Christmas" in their advertisements and in-store greetings.</p>
<p>There may have been no room at the inn for Christ, but there better be room for Christmas in the Nieman Marcus catalogue this year -- or there's going to be trouble. (Whether Jesus, who urged the rich young man to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor, would want to be in the Nieman Marcus catalogue is another issue altogether!)</p>
<p>Now, the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition has set his sights on Thanksgiving as a propaganda and fund-raising vehicle. <a href="http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=3462">In his most recent e-mail appeal</a>, Sheldon urges pastors -- and the rest of us -- to declare Nov. 23 "America's Christian Heritage Sunday."</p>
<p>The bombastic California preacher wants sermons on "America's Christian founding" and church bulletin inserts that insist America was "founded because of prayer." He takes the project one step further and seeks government endorsement of the occasion, urging his troops to contact local mayors and city councils for resolutions in honor of the special day.</p>
<p>Sheldon regurgitates a lot of the usual "Christian nation" baloney to bolster his case. Much of it is outright false; all of it is so wrenched from historical context that it should be regarded as fiction.</p>
<p>America was founded for a lot of reasons: imperial expansion by European powers, the hunt for wealth by adventurers of all stripes and the search by some for religious freedom. Many colonists came here just because they wanted a better life.</p>
<p>Sheldon, of course, focuses only the Pilgrims. He says they gave us "America's first Constitution, the Mayflower Compact," and argues that "our founding fathers never forsook Christ or the role of Christianity in their duties, and in fact, they used it as their basis for America's founding."</p>
<p>Sheldon falsely claims that Ben Franklin persuaded the Constitutional Convention to turn to prayer when delegates reached a difficult spot in the negotiations. (Franklin <a href="http://candst.tripod.com/franklin.htm">did make the appeal, but</a> the delegates decided not to take him up on it.)</p>
<p>Predictably, Sheldon excoriates the Supreme Court for endorsing the secular humanists' "perverted doctrine of 'separation of church and state.'"</p>
<p>Sheldon also celebrates the fact that many early state constitutions included religious tests for public office! He notes that the Pennsylvania constitution required officials to express belief in one God and acknowledge the "divine inspiration" of the Old and New Testaments. He happily cites the constitution of Delaware (home, Sheldon notes, of Vice President-elect Joe Biden), which required office holders to "profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His Holy Son and in the Holy Ghost."</p>
<p>[caption id="attachment_1197" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="'Lucky Louie' Sheldon"]<a href="http://blog.au.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/2899354894_b20b771890.jpg"></a>[/caption]</p>
<p>What a turkey! Does Sheldon really want to go back to the days when various denominations of Christianity were state-established faiths and all Americans had to profess faith in them or become second-class citizens? He clearly does!</p>
<p>As for the Mayflower Compact, it is, indeed, an important document from American history. But what counts today is the U.S. Constitution, with its ironclad provisions for church-state separation and religious liberty for all.</p>
<p>The framers of the Constitution -- some orthodox Christians, some not -- sought a nation where persons of all beliefs (and none) were guaranteed the right to follow their own consciences on matters of religion. The church-state provisions of the First Amendment have ensured that some 2,000 denominations, faith groups and traditions are free to operate in America today. Millions of Americans profess no religious affiliation at all.</p>
<p>The Constitution even protects the right of fundamentalist prevaricators like Sheldon to make a nice living spreading historical lies, pushing divisive and hateful religious and political extremism and engaging in ethically dubious but lucrative conduct. (Remember <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/08/EDG5TG19981.DTL">"Lucky Louie's" role</a> in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal?)</p>
<p>Here's an idea for America's clergy. Instead of joining Sheldon's misguided crusade, why not preach a sermon this weekend praising church-state separation and the role that beneficent principle has played in giving each of us religious liberty?</p>
<p>The freedom to believe as we wish, or not to believe at all, is something to be truly thankful for, this week and every week.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/americas-christian-heritage-sunday">America&#039;s Christian Heritage Sunday</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jack-abramoff">Jack Abramoff</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/lou-sheldon">Lou Sheldon</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/traditional-values-coalition">Traditional Values Coalition</a></span></div></div>Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:07:50 +0000Joseph L. Conn1546 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/thankful-for-theocracy-tvcs-sheldon-tries-to-make-thanksgiving-a-vehicle#comments